Environment news

• Rosetta spacecraft's crash landing explained

  29-09-2016 23:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Rosetta probe, which has been beaming back spectacular pictures of a comet, is to end its journey by crash landing.
  
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• Tropical plants flowering months earlier or later because of climate crisis – study

  25-02-2026 20:00
  Changes threaten ecosystems as flowering falls out of sync with fruit-eating, seed-dispersing animals and pollinatorsTropical flowers are blooming months earlier or later than they used to because of climate breakdown, with potentially “cascading impacts across ecosystems”, according to a study of 8,000 plants dating back 200 years.Researchers looked at flowers from a range of countries, including Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana and Thailand, home to the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, b
  
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• One in four councils to miss food waste collection deadline

  25-02-2026 16:52 via bbc.com
  Local authorities blame the delays on a lack of funding and a shortage of bin lorries.
  
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• Germany accused of ditching climate targets as it scraps renewables mandate

  25-02-2026 16:11
  Coalition government agrees to remove parts of controversial law and allow homes to rely on fossil fuels Germany’s coalition government has been accused of abandoning its climate targets after agreeing to scrap parts of a contentious heating law mandating the use of renewables in favour of a draft law allowing homeowners to rely on fossil fuels.While the previous law required most newly installed heating systems to use at least 65% renewable energy, often with a heat pump, the amended legi
  
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• Toxic waste from screens ends up in endangered dolphins, study finds

  25-02-2026 14:00
  Gene-altering chemicals found in humpback dolphins and finless porpoises, raising alarm they may end up in human food chainToxic e-waste chemicals from television, computer and smartphone screens have been found in the brains and bodies of endangered dolphins and porpoises in the South China Sea.Research published in Environmental Science & Technology detected significant levels of gene-altering liquid crystal monomers (LCMs) in Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and finless porpoises. Continue
  
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• Tech legend Stewart Brand on Musk, Bezos and his extraordinary life: ‘We don’t need to passively accept our fate’

  25-02-2026 13:00
  He was at the heart of 1960s counterculture, then paved the way for the libertarian mindset of Silicon Valley. At 87, Brand is still keen to ensure the world is maintained properly – not just today, but for the next 10,000 yearsStewart Brand thinks big and long. He thinks on a planetary scale – as suggested by the title of his celebrated Whole Earth Catalog – and on the longest of timeframes, as with his Long Now Foundation, which looks forward to the next 10,000 years of human
  
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• Why scientists fear Emperor penguins' annual moult may be killing them

  25-02-2026 11:01 via bbc.com
  Each year the birds must stay on floating ice long enough to replace their weather-beaten feathers.
  
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• Chronic ocean heating fuels ‘staggering’ loss of marine life, study finds

  25-02-2026 11:00
  Fish levels fall by 7.2% with as little as 0.1C of warming per decade, northern hemisphere research showsChronic ocean heating is fuelling a “staggering and deeply concerning” loss of marine life, a study has found, with fish levels falling by 7.2% from as little as 0.1C of warming per decade.Researchers examined the year-to-year change of 33,000 populations in the northern hemisphere between 1993 and 2021, and isolated the effect of the decadal rate of seabed warming from short shif
  
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• Scotland's plan to install heat pumps 'too slow' - climate advisers

  25-02-2026 07:29 via bbc.com
  Independent climate change advisors say the Scottish government needs to ramp up the rollout of heat pumps immediately.
  
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• How ancient Scottish rocks throw ‘snowball Earth’ theory up in the air

  25-02-2026 07:00
  Researchers discover rare periods of a few thousands years when climate unexpectedly awoke from slumberDuring the ”snowball Earth” period about 700m years ago, Earth’s climate shut down. The planet was encased in ice and insulated from seasonal variations: spring, summer, autumn and winter all stopped. Or at least that was the theory.Recent examination of some ancient rocks from the west coast of Scotland have now overturned that thinking, suggesting there were periods during s
  
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• Group expands legal claim over South West Water sewage pollution

  25-02-2026 07:00
  Thousands more people across Devon and Cornwall could join case against water firmA group legal claim against South West Water alleging sewage pollution into coastal waters is harming businesses and individuals has been expanded across Devon and Cornwall.Thousands more individuals could now join the first environmental community group legal action against a water company over the impact of sewage pollution. Continue reading...
  
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• I did it. I actually saw a Cetti’s warbler | Lev Parikian

  25-02-2026 06:30
  Walthamstow Wetlands, London: They’re professional skulkers, loud but highly elusive. And yet there one is, out of the reeds, to be remembered for everIt’s weather you’d emigrate to avoid. Gloomy and cold – Tupperware sky and drizzle in the air. But tranquil, at least. Small mercies. Walthamstow Wetlands – a 211-hectare nature reserve centred on 10 reservoirs in north-east London. Jewel in the Lee Valley’s crown, and as good a place for waterbirds as any in th
  
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• Scotland’s new emissions strategy ‘too reliant on science fiction’, critics say

  25-02-2026 06:00
  UK Climate Change Committee voices concern over Scotland’s progress on decarbonising buildings and reliance on unproved technologies Scotland has finally produced realistic short-term plans on cutting its climate emissions, but there is “real concern” about the credibility of its overall strategy, the UK’s climate policy watchdog has found.Nigel Topping, the chair of the UK Climate Change Committee, said there were “flashing amber lights” about the quality and
  
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• Humans – not Mimmo the dolphin – need managing in Venice lagoon, say scientists

  25-02-2026 06:00
  Researchers say solitary bottlenose has adapted well to city waters, but tighter controls on boat traffic and human behaviour are needed Italian scientists monitoring the movements of a dolphin in the Venice lagoon have said humans are the ones who need managing, rather than wildlife.Known as Mimmo, the bottlenose dolphin has been spotted on several occasions since it made its first appearance in June last year, prompting a research team from the University of Padova to spring into action. Conti
  
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• Anger over plans to abolish New Zealand’s dedicated environment ministry

  25-02-2026 02:41
  Critics say proposal to fold department into a new ‘mega ministry’ will dilute accountability and put nature protections at risk New Zealand’s government is seeking to abolish its dedicated environment ministry to cut down on bureaucracy, a move critics say could dilute environmental protections.Under the plan, the department would be folded into a new “mega-ministry” that will cover housing, urban development, transport, local government and the environment. Contin
  
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• Citizen scientists discover a Great Barrier Reef coral giant ‘like a rolling meadow’

  24-02-2026 23:00
  Volunteer group Citizens of the Reef made the find as part of the Great Reef CensusFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastCitizen scientists have discovered what they believe is one of the largest coral colonies ever documented on the Great Barrier Reef.The coral spans approximately 111 metres in maximum length and covers an estimated area of 3,973 sq m – about half the size of a soccer field. Continue reading...
  
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• Australia’s most costly anti-climate policy hits taxpayers for $30m a day as calls mount to wind back fuel tax credits | Adam Morton

  24-02-2026 15:00
  The government will hand over $10.8bn this financial year under the scheme that makes it cheaper for miners and other industries to use diesel and petrolWant to get this in your inbox when it publishes? Sign up for the Clear Air Australia newsletter hereIt’s the most costly anti-climate policy in the Australian government budget, working against efforts to cut emissions. This financial year, taxpayers will hand over nearly $10.8bn to make it cheaper for miners, farmers and some other indus
  
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• ‘If we see you again, we kill you’: how a Colombian wildlife hotspot turned into a death zone

  24-02-2026 14:00
  Armed groups and a state-owned refinery’s oil leaks have displaced Barrancabermeja’s fishing community and poisoned a paradise once full of manatees and jaguars
  Standing on her wooden canoe, a machete in her hand, Yuly Velásquez hacks away at reeds matted with blackened sludge. Close by, a burst oil pipe has released a slick of crude into the San Silvestre wetlands in Barrancabermeja, Colombia’s oil city, choking the water and its wildlife.“The destruction is immen
  
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• ‘It’s more exciting than Tesco’: can traditional fishing lure Cornwall’s young people?

  24-02-2026 11:00
  Taster days and training are offering teenagers an escape from a future of part-time, seasonal work – and giving a boost to a declining industryIt’s mid-morning on a rare calm day in Newlyn, Cornwall. Will Roberts is back at the quayside with a catch of mackerel to unload, having set off from the harbour before dawn. At 22, he is something of a rarity here, one of a handful of young fishers running his own small commercial boat from the port.“It’s a magical feeling when y
  
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• Winter Olympics must tackle environmental impact before the snow runs out | George Timms

  24-02-2026 09:00
  With the rhetoric not matching the reality, future Olympics hosts need to forge clearer sustainable standardsBy the end of the 21st century, only eight of the 21 cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics are projected to be cold enough to reliably host the Games due to climate change. Challenges faced by Milano Cortina 2026 organisers such as producing artificial snow, establishing transport links between remote locations and building new infrastructure are likely to become more omnipresent at
  
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• ‘People yearn for stability’: the Thames Water sewage plant at frontline of its crisis

  24-02-2026 08:00
  Weighed down by underinvestment and uncertainty, staff at Maple Lodge just want to get on with the jobIt is a grey day in a wet week but one of Thames Water’s neglected plants is still coping. Wastewater is being pumped into the vast Maple Lodge sewage treatment centre in Rickmansworth, just off the M25, at a rate of about 3,000 litres a second, within capacity.The site manager points out the first-line screens that catch everything that will not pass through a 5mm filter. A “sheep&r
  
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• Reform mayor courted US oil and gas executive about fracking in UK

  24-02-2026 07:00
  Exclusive: Documents show Andrea Jenkyns asked how she could help firm after major gas find in LincolnshireLincolnshire’s Reform party mayor, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, has courted the head of an American oil and gas dynasty in the hope of bringing fracking to the county, the Guardian can reveal.Egdon Resources, a British subsidiary of the US fracker Heyco Energy, announced a major gas discovery in Lincolnshire’s Gainsborough Trough last year. Jenkyns, who became the first mayor of Greater
  
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• Country diary: The magic of knowing a meteorite fell here, of all places | Amy-Jane Beer

  24-02-2026 06:30
  Wold Newton, East Yorkshire: On a dreary day in a nondescript field, I visit the site where a 4.56 billion-year-old bit of space rock came to EarthOn a low rise, beyond a screen of trees, behind a small holiday park in the Yorkshire Wolds, a brick obelisk stands incongruously at the edge of an otherwise nondescript field. It bears a plaque inscribed as follows: “Here, on this spot, Decr. 13th, 1795 / fell from the Atmosphere AN EXTRAORDINARY STONE / In breadth 28 inches / In length 36
  
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• World Nature Photography awards 2026 – in pictures

  23-02-2026 23:49
  The World Nature Photography awards have announced the winners for 2026 and Australian Jono Allen has taken out the top prize Continue reading...
  
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• Weather tracker: Early taste of spring to sweep parts of Europe

  23-02-2026 11:33
  South-western France could hit 25C, while a powerful Nor’easter is forecast to bring blizzards to BostonEurope live – latest updatesAn early taste of spring is on the way for millions across northern and western Europe this week. Temperatures could climb close to a near record-breaking 20C (68F) in parts of Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with south-western France approaching 25C on Wednesday.The warmth is being driven by a highly amplified synoptic pattern, featuri
  
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• Country diary: Wood pigeon courtship rituals are straight out of Bridgerton | Kate Blincoe

  23-02-2026 06:30
  Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: I can’t tell which birds are male and which are female and, it turns out, neither can they. There is a system, thoughThe flock of 50 or so pigeons lifts from the barn roof as one. The loud clapping of wings makes the horses jump, even though this happens several times a day. I scan the sky for a peregrine but can’t see signs of danger. They swirl once, then settle back on to the corrugated metal roof.These farmyard pigeons are a mix of feral and wood pigeo
  
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• How an annual ‘wedding flight’ of 1,000 virgin queens is ensuring the revival of Europe’s dark bee

  23-02-2026 06:00
  The Belgian ceremony attracts beekeepers from the Netherlands, France and Germany keen to boost dark bee numbers and stop the spread of the hybrid honeybeeEvery summer, 1,000 virgin queens descend on the Belgian town of Chimay. During the “wedding flight”, a male attaches to the female. His endophallus (penis equivalent) is torn off and he falls to the ground and dies. Mission accomplished.Beekeepers come and pick up their fertilised queens in small colourful hives, driving them back
  
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• Are you cut out for living and working in Antarctica?

  23-02-2026 01:01 via bbc.com
  Jobs are available on the icy continent for chefs, plumbers, carpenters and even hairdressers.
  
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• How a Welsh village saved its forest … and its future

  22-02-2026 13:00
  In an edited extract from her latest book, Hazel Sheffield sets out a new blueprint for community stewardship It was a Saturday in February 2020 when the flood came. It had been a wet winter, so wet it seemed that before the month was out, the brown trout of the River Taff might be washed clean out into Cardiff Bay before the fishing season had even begun. But this is Wales. People are used to a spot of rain. No one realised how bad it would get.For two days, it hammered on the windows of the ho
  
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• Less snow, or more risk? What you need to know about avalanches and climate change

  22-02-2026 10:00
  Rising temperatures are forcing some ski resorts to close, while leaving others at greater risk of extreme weatherAvalanches kill about 100 people in Europe each year, with vast masses of ice, snow and rock regularly crashing down on hikers and skiers who have been caught unawares.The structure of the snow, angle of the slope and variation of the weather can dictate whether a gentle disturbance – like a gust of wind or the glide of a snowboard – can trigger a deadly shift in the moun
  
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